This week’s news that activist investors are seeking $8 billion in stock buybacks from General Motors has reignited a nearly half century of concerns that the once-dominant automaker continues to prioritize short-term results over long-term strategy. Already behind the competition on global platform rationalization, fuel efficiency, pricing power and luxury-brand margins, GM clearly has better things to do with its cash than give it away to investors. But while analysts and investors wrestle with these issues, taxpayers face an even more troubling question: how is it possible that they lost over $10 billion on GM’s equity only to have Wall Street strip $8 billion in cash from the company with the help of a member of the president’s auto task force?